This invention relates generally to tape handling mechanisms, and more particularly concerns the provision of storage means for magnetic tape.
It is desirable to protect tape wound on a reel by providing a protective leader strip which extends about the tape and is retained in position between reel flanges. One way to retain the leader requires the use of grooves cut in the flange walls to receive the leader edges; however, such grooves required exact tolerances since if they are too deep the leader will be loose and will not form a protective seal with the flanges; conversely, if the fit between the tape and grooves is too tight, it becomes unacceptably difficult to remove the leader from between the flanges.
Another expedient is to provide flexible reel flanges; however, they create additional problems in that the leader and tape are released or spilled if a flange flexes too far as can happen if the reel is dropped. Notched edge leader has also been employed; however, such leader does not completely seal off against the flanges so that the tape remains unprotected, i.e one purpose of the leader is destroyed.
Further, if a leader is designed to frictionally engage straight (i.e. ungrooved) walls of the flanges, for retention, it is found that buckling of the leader occurs at random locations about the reel axis as the leader is wound, due to excessive bending stiffness of the leader, lengthwise. This leads to stripping difficulties and uneven winding of the tape about the leader on the take-up reel.
Insofar as I am aware, no-one prior to the present invention has provided a solution to the above problems, which embodies the unusual structural features, function and results of the present invention.